At the same time, the pine forest destruction incident in Quynh Luu district in Quynh Tan commune had just occurred, Nghe An Newspaper received news that a large area of pine forest in the forest area managed and protected by the Northern Nghe An Forest Protection Management Board had been destroyed. More seriously, the forest destroyer also seriously injured a forest protection officer in order to disperse the evidence from the scene.
On the morning of March 9, stopping by the Quynh Luu - Hoang Mai Forest Protection Department to review the incident, the Department Head Le Ngoc Huu briefly said that the Department has been struggling with this case all week. "The case is currently being investigated and clarified by the Quynh Luu District Police. But in general, the situation is quite complicated..." - Department Head Le Ngoc Huu said with a moody voice. Thanks to the officers for showing the way, because according to the description, the distance is not too far but most of the trails are through pine and acacia forests, making it easy to get lost. Indeed, although the Forest Protection Department officers have been going in and out continuously for the past few days, they have had to stop their vehicles at every intersection to get a feel for it.
Taking advantage of the time to ask more questions on the way, according to the men, the subject who destroyed the forest and beat the forest guard was named H., residing in Quynh Tan commune. The area of forest destroyed was identified as belonging to Quynh Chau commune, bordering Quynh Tan commune. Regarding the forest destruction incident, it was discovered on February 28, 2023. After receiving the news, the Forest Protection Department went to the scene to coordinate with the Bac Nghe An Forest Protection Management Board, the authorities of Quynh Chau and Quynh Tan communes to inspect, make a record, and disseminate the law to the people. However, after that, this forest area continued to have bad developments, they continued to organize vehicles and machines to destroy the forest. On March 2, when the Bac Nghe An Forest Protection Management Board inspected and discovered, the subjects fled, leaving behind their cars and chainsaws. On March 6, the subjects mobilized more people to return to dismantle the vehicles. At this time, there were only a few guards of the Board on duty at the scene, so they were assaulted...
After about 40 minutes, we arrived at the location where the forest was destroyed. This was a fairly large hill. From the foot of the hill, we could see piles of pine and acacia branches scattered about; on top of the hill, there was still a patch of forest that had not been destroyed. Going up to the top of the hill to look at the whole scene, we realized that this was a large-scale deforestation, with many people and motorbikes involved. This was because the destroyed forest had a large area, on which it had been leveled to form 4 fairly wide roads for motorbikes to travel. Moreover, many tree stumps (mainly pine, acacia, and chestnut trees) were cut down; the tree trunks after being cut down were cut into very neat pieces for easy transportation... Expressing this thought, the head of the Department, Le Ngoc Huu, agreed. He said that H. was identified as the main subject, who had organized and hired people to destroy the forest. Asked about the area of forest destroyed, according to the Head of the Quynh Luu - Hoang Mai Forest Protection Department, "about 2.2 hectares of forest were destroyed, this is a case of forest destruction...".
For more information, we contacted the Quynh Chau commune officials to visit the scene of the forest destruction. About half an hour later, Mr. Ho Duc Toan - forestry officer, Mr. Vo Van The - land officer of Quynh Chau commune appeared. Bringing along the forestry maps built according to Decree No. 2-CP in 1994 and Decree 163/1999/ND-CP, both commune officials confirmed that the forest destruction area belonged to Quynh Chau commune. Looking at the two maps, the border area of Quynh Chau commune was marked "Quynh Luu Forestry Farm".
Mr. Ho Duc Toan, who has more than 20 years of experience as a Forestry officer in Quynh Chau commune, added: “On February 28, when I received the news, I came here. At that time, the forest had been destroyed for a few days. This forest area, located in Quynh Chau commune, was planted according to the pine and acacia program of Project 661 (Project to plant 5 million hectares of new forest in 2000 - PV), previously implemented by Quynh Luu Forestry Enterprise, now managed and protected by the Northern Nghe An Forest Protection Management Board...”.
In Quynh Luu district, we contacted Mr. Hoang Tri Thuc, in charge of Len Ngoi Forest Protection Station (directly managing the forest area of North Nghe An Protective Forest Management Board in Quynh Chau and Quynh Tan communes) and worked with the Northern Nghe An Protective Forest Management Board. Information from here, the destroyed forest area belongs to lot 1, compartment 3, sub-area 343B, commonly known as Mr. Sang's camp area. On February 22, 2023, this area was still normal. By the early afternoon of February 28, we discovered a number of people arbitrarily encroaching on the land, using a Daewoo Doosan 140W excavator to dig, level, destroy the forest, cut logs, and load pine wood onto a truck with license plate 74C-108.11. There was also a large amount of pine wood scattered at the scene.
The Northern Nghe An Forest Protection Management Board has mobilized forces to prevent and work with these people. Through preliminary measurements, the area dug up, leveled and destroyed is 1.31 hectares; 181 pine trees were cut; the volume of pine wood cut into pieces is 5.832m3.3. The Northern Nghe An Forest Protection Management Board has made a record of the on-site inspection of two individuals, Mr. LTD and NCT (both residing in Quynh Tan commune). Due to the darkness and difficult terrain, it was not until the morning of March 1 that they brought car 74C-108.11 and 3,572m3The pine wood was loaded onto the truck and transported to the Len Ngoi Forest Protection Management Station for preservation. On March 2, the Board issued a written report and handed over the documents and evidence to the Quynh Luu - Hoang Mai Forest Protection Department for handling.
I thought the incident would stop there, but unexpectedly, in the late afternoon of March 2, the above group of people continued to come in to cut down and cut the remaining acacia trees in lot 1, compartment 3, sub-area 343B. The Northern Nghe An Forest Protection Management Board reported to the Quynh Luu - Hoang Mai Forest Protection Department, mobilizing forces to prevent it. During the working process, these people did not cooperate, left their vehicles, and left the scene. On the night of March 2 and March 3, the Northern Nghe An Forest Protection Management Board had to arrange forces to preserve the evidence, which was the car with license plate 22C-033.97 and all the cut acacia wood. At the same time, they coordinated with the Quynh Luu - Hoang Mai Forest Protection Department to inspect the scene, measure and determine that 45 acacia trees were cut with a total volume of wood of 7.47m3.
On March 4, 4 people in the group destroyed the forest at the scene. The Northern Nghe An Forest Protection Management Board and the Quynh Luu - Hoang Mai Forest Protection Department worked with them and persuaded them to bring their vehicles and wood to the Len Ngoi Forest Protection Management Station for preservation and handover to the authorities for handling. However, these 4 people did not agree. Therefore, in the following days, the Northern Nghe An Forest Protection Management Board had to assign forces to preserve the evidence while waiting for the Quynh Luu - Hoang Mai Forest Protection Department to investigate, verify and handle the case.
At around 8:00 a.m. on March 6, a group of more than 20 people carrying knives and machetes entered the scene, overwhelming the force protecting the evidence. At that time, the Northern Nghe An Forest Protection Management Board was holding a March meeting, and the on-duty force was thin, so they were assaulted by this group of people. Deputy Head of the Forest Protection Team Nguyen Khac Hoan was attacked and injured and had to be taken to Minh An General Hospital for emergency treatment. Because the meeting place was far away, when the entire force of the Board arrived at the scene, the subjects had already taken the car with license plate 22C-033.97 and the acacia wood on the car and left. Realizing that this was a complicated case and the subjects destroying the forest were too reckless, the Northern Nghe An Forest Protection Management Board urgently reported to their superiors and the Quynh Luu District Police.
Director of the Northern Nghe An Forest Protection Management Board, Mr. Tran Van Son, said: “Currently, the Investigation Police Agency of Quynh Luu District Police has entered the case. The investigation agency has discovered a car with license plate 22C-033.97 and a quantity of acacia wood on the car, which is currently being detained at the headquarters of Quynh Tan commune. On the Board's side, the case has been reported in detail, providing all land records, project 661, records made at the scene, and related images and clips recorded to the investigation agency. We hope that the matter will be clarified...”.
We asked about the health of the Deputy Head of the Forest Protection Team Nguyen Khac Hoan. We were informed that after 3 days of treatment at Minh An General Hospital, Mr. Hoan still had headaches and tinnitus, so the Management Board of Northern Nghe An Protective Forest transferred him to Nghe An Orthopedic Trauma Hospital.
On the afternoon of March 9, we met Mr. Nguyen Khac Hoan at Nghe An Orthopedic Trauma Hospital. On his body, from the forehead, face, shoulders, abdomen... there were many large bruises. Lying on the treatment bed, he said the wounds were still painful but he was worried because his head was dizzy and his ears were ringing. "Both hospitals diagnosed me with a traumatic brain injury..." - Mr. Hoan said.
When asked about the moment of the assault, Nguyen Khac Hoan said that when the deforesters were discovered, they did not cooperate but left their vehicles and evidence and left the scene. Therefore, the Board assigned people to be on duty 24/7, waiting for the Quynh Luu - Hoang Mai Forest Protection Department to investigate and handle the case according to regulations. At around 8:00 a.m. on March 6, a group of about 20 people brought weapons into the scene in an attempt to disperse the evidence. At this time, the force on duty to protect the area had only 5 people (including 2 women). When we saw that, we asked the subjects to work peacefully. However, the deforesters were very aggressive, they jumped on the car, started the engine and demanded to take the car carrying the evidence away from the scene. When Nguyen Khac Hoan saw that, he used his motorbike to block the path and was beaten by the subjects with sticks. After being hit by a stick on the forehead, he was stunned and fell down, then he could only hold his head and lie curled up on the ground. However, the subjects continued to use sticks to hit the shoulders and back, causing injuries all over the body, with the threat "this time I will only hit like this, if next time you stop me, I will beat you to death"...
Asked Mr. Nguyen Khac Hoan, after being assaulted like that, what opinion do you have to send to the authorities? The Deputy Head of the Forest Protection Team of the Northern Nghe An Forest Protection Management Board tearfully said: “I hope the incident will be handled in accordance with the law, thoroughly handled. If the forest protection force is repeatedly assaulted by illegal loggers and violators, they will not be able to do their job. They will be afraid of conflict, will ignore violators, and the forest will become increasingly depleted…”.
